Packaged NGP games will get day-one digital release

Sony's Andrew House has said all physical games for NGP will be made available simultaneously in digital form at release.

Speaking with MCV, House said Sony learned through PSP that a "simultaneous delivery," is important for both the consumer and developers.

"That is one of the attractions of having a hybrid approach to distribution," he said. "You have maximum flexibility. It gives a great opportunity for retailers to continue to be an active part in the business. But at the same time, it gives the consumer the flexibility of digital access to content.

"I also think publishers will start to look at distribution methods depending on the size of content. Clearly if you have big blockbuster games, then downloading them is perhaps not the best experience.

"One thing we learnt from PSP, is that we want to have simultaneous delivery in digital and physical for NGP. Just to clarify that, all games that appear physically will be made available digitally. Not necessarily all games have to be made available physically. And having the option of a digital-only method affords more creative risk-taking, and that’s because you don’t-have that in-built risk of physical inventory.

"What I’d like to see is a hierarchy of different games of different sizes. So at the high-end you’ve got these big, premium games, which by and large will be available physically because that is the most convenient way to access them. And then there’s an opportunity for digital-only, where we might see more experimentation."

Last year during gamescom, House told VG247 that Sony has underestimated the consumers fondness for packaged goods with PSPgo, and told MCV that PSPgo was "introduced in a mature lifecycle to learn more about what the consumer wanted."

Thanks, Wired.